Presidents Lee Jae-myung and Donald Trump have agreed to restore consultations on nuclear-powered submarines and wider nuclear-fuel rights that had stalled during investment negotiations. Their meeting in New York revived work connected to a November 2025 joint fact sheet, according to the South Korean presidential office.
A wider alliance package
Lee paired the request with a commitment for South Korea to spend more on defense and assume greater responsibility for security on the peninsula. Seoul said he asked for faster discussion of submarine propulsion, uranium enrichment and spent-fuel reprocessing. These are separate but linked issues because each requires sustained US cooperation under the alliance and existing nuclear arrangements.
The roughly 30-minute meeting also covered a proposed high-level discussion on transferring wartime operational control to South Korea. Lee signaled that he wants the transfer completed during his term. Trump again emphasized shipbuilding cooperation, connecting security talks with an industrial sector where Korean companies have substantial capacity.
Restoring consultations is an initial diplomatic step, not approval for a submarine program or expanded fuel rights. Technical standards, nonproliferation safeguards, costs and alliance responsibilities would still need negotiation. South Korea's increased defense contribution may improve the political setting, but the evidence does not establish a formal exchange in which spending guarantees a specific US concession.
Progress will be visible in named working groups, meeting dates and written agreements implementing the joint fact sheet. The same applies to wartime command: a high-level channel would begin a process whose conditions and schedule remain to be settled. For now, the summit has reopened files that had been blocked and placed them inside a broader package of alliance, investment and shipbuilding cooperation.